Councils can be at the heart of the community wealth building energy transition with new toolkit

On the eve of COP26, The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) and Carbon Co-op have released a major new toolkit for councils, a community wealth building energy transition.The toolkit shows that councils have a vital role to play in addressing the climate emergency and can generate significant benefit for communities.

The toolkit is in four parts:

• why community wealth building?
• getting started
• current and emerging practice; and
• deep dives – Oldham, Nottingham and Bolton.

The work represents a “how to” for councils wanting to deliver greener and cost-effective energy for communities.

Case studies from across the UK show the vital role that many councils and their partners are already playing in delivering energy transition projects, while tools and resources in the toolkit will help all local authorities, no matter their size or starting point, to develop solutions that work for their locality.

The toolkit shows how, by using a community wealth building approach, councils can develop new ideas for energy transition in their area, including better use of procurement, land and assets, employment and skills training.

Have a look at the toolkit.